The present invention relates to an improved automatic pistol and more properly a lever mechanism which, applied to an automatic pistol, allows it to be transformed into a burst-firing pistol.
It is known that in the field of military appliances, various studies have been effected in order to provide firearms which not only can be light and handy in function, but also have the possibility of burst-firing.
These firearms, although intended to be used by suitably trained military personnel, must necessarily be safe and reliable.
It has been found quite difficult to provide fire arms showing all the above stated features and therefore attempts previously made have not provided the intended results. In particular, the automatic pistols capable of burst-firing according to the prior art, employ mechanical devices having various degrees of freedom, their operation being strictly related to their wear, the length of their strokes and lubrication of the movable parts (i.e. to inertia of the moving elements).
A typical example of the inconveniences shown by the pistols of the prior art is given by the Spanish pistol "Star" of 1939. The burst-firing operation of this pistol is controlled by means of a ratchet actuated from the outside and mounted on the pistol.breech reciprocating mechanism. More precisely, such ratchet is capable of taking either of two positions, called A and B for distinguishing purposes. Whenever the ratchet is at position A, the pistol fires as any known repeating pistol. On the contrary, whenever it is located at the position B, the ratchet, driven by the breech mechanism during the reversal stroke of the hammer upon a pistol-shot, engages the end of a lever pivotally mounted on the breech mechanism. Such lever, according to the force of the blow received, can hit by its other end the hammer sear, thus disengaging it and causing burst-firing which depends on the rocking movement of the lever itself.
Actually it is possible that the lever does not hit the latch since this occurs according to the trigger position, namely it depends upon whether the trigger is pressed or released. In fact, the condition for the above mentioned lever to have room enough to hit against the latch only occurs if the trigger is pressed. From the above, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that a similarly designed firearm is extremely unsafe. As a matter of fact; a very slight clearance of the lever mechanism described hereinabove may cause the pistol to fire an undesired burst when loaded with its ratchet at the position B. Furthermore, the described pistol, again with the ratchet at the position B, may fire a burst as a result of a casual impact, e.g. by falling to the ground with the hammer at rest, inasmuch as the pistol is not provided with an inertia-striker and the hammer, hitting against the ground, operates the striker itself to cause the burst-firing.